Refuge de Manganu to Refuge de Petra Piana

A chilly morning started the day. It's day seven, and that means there's roughly seven more days to go. The trail has been hard but I am enjoying it. We had a slow start to the day once we got going. The way out of the refuge led towards a mountain ridge in the far distance, but first we had to navigate some more more bog-like ground.

The trail went along shrubs and rocks as it wound its way up towards the ridge. We took a wrong turn at one point and had to double back, losing some time. The sun was rising behind this ridge, and thus the whole trail was in dark shadow. It took us about two hours to get to the top, where we took a well-deserved break on the stony ground, with a huge dropoff danging below us.

The way down to the next ridge wasn't that bad. There were some drops were we had to scoot down on our butts, and rely on some chains for the other parts. There were two parts here: a lower and an upper, and we decided to take the lower route instead of scrambling over sharp-looking rocks on the upper portion.

We continued along the trail that ran along the mountainside. It was windy and very chilly in this area. About an hour and a half later the flat section of the trail was done and it was time to start the ascent to a snow-patch covered area with ice-cold waters, perfect for dipping your feet in. The waters were too dirty to fully get into, but they were just right for feet.

With cold refreshed feet I continued on towards the descent into the next refuge for the night. The way down was a lot steeper than it looked from high above, and it was filled with switchbacks (very steep switchbacks), and waterfalls, making the rocks extra slippery. But I made it down faster than I thought I would.

I could tell that it was going to be a windy night for those in tents. I still haven't figured out how to properly pitch the tent, and that's also probably due to having to use rocks at every campsite because of the hard-packed ground. I hope they hold.

This refuge has Sundaes, and eggs! I ordered a plate of fries on top of fried eggs, a coke, and a sundae for lunch. Super healthy, right? I didn't care, it was amazing and it hit the spot.

Dinner was pre-assigned seating, which meant our group wouldn't be sitting together. Everyone is amazed that I came all the way from Chicago just to do this trek. I still haven't met any other Americans though.

After dinner our gang played some more card games. Supposedly the refuge tomorrow has amazing lasagna, so I'm definitely looking forward to that!